A bill permitting students to carry firearms on campus puts the lives of students, faculty and staff in jeopardy.
The state legislature is reviewing a bill that would allow for the possession of firearms on college campuses.
This will do more harm than good.
House Bill 615 states a person shall be permitted to carry a firearm in every location except jails, prisons or courts.
Under current law, it is unlawful to carry firearms on or within 1,000 feet of the campus of any private, technical school, vocational school, college, university, or institution of post-secondary education.
However, according to the Georgia General Assembly web site, the House read the bill twice in March of 2009. This bill could soon become a reality for college campuses.
Student Government Association (SGA) President Tamer Amer said the University System of Georgia (USG) is worried about allowing guns on campuses because it compromises students’ safety.
The Student Advisory Council -- all SGA presidents from public colleges and universities within USG -- wrote a letter on Jan. 26 to the state legislature expressing concern about the proposed legislation.
In the letter, the presidents ask if the new legislation is adopted that colleges and universities remain gun-free.
In an ABC News article, “Carrying a gun wouldn’t necessarily get you out of a shooting,” experts argue that using a weapon for self-defense in a true emergency is not like target practice.
Chris Benton, a police investigator with the Bethlehem, Pa., police department said in the article that people get a warped sense that what they can do in video games is what can be done in real life and that most people are ill-prepared to handle a gun.
Benton also said not only do people have outside environments to deal with, people are running and screaming while rounds are being fired back. He said this is too much for a civilian who’s never been trained to deal with these factors.
According to the San Francisco Community Against Violence, only six states require any kind of training before issuing a routine permit to own a gun.
The article also reported that of the 48 states that allow concealed-carry permits, less than half require people to demonstrate knowledge of firearms use and/or safety, and even fewer require an actual training course.
This lack of training should send red flags to everyone.
If there is an incident such as at Virgina Tech in 2007 or Columbine in 1999, Bill Stanton, former New York City police officer and safety expert, said in the article there are better ways to survive or help those around you without using a gun.
Stanton said hostages should be thinking about alternative exits and holding places. He said to know your strengths and vulnerabilities and to get away from the violence.
Stanton also said the person who is most likely to survive a shooting is the one who immediately springs into some kind of action. He said a person’s cell phone may be the best weapon for survival. Stanton says to get on the cell phone, tell people, barricade the doors and wait it out.
Stanton said there are three immediate steps to take if you are suddenly in the middle of a deadly shooting: Identify what’s going on, recognize the situation and have an exit strategy.
As of now, Utah is the only state that allows guns on college campuses.
According to the MSNBC article, “Utah only state to allow guns at college,” Utah legislators and law enforcement said they know of no modern-day shootings at the university.
However, one lawmaker cited an example of how allowing others to carry firearms on campus will improve safety. In a 1997 shooting in Mississippi, a teenager shot two students to death. After the shooting, the assistant principle chased down the gunman and held him at bay with a .45-caliber pistol he kept in his car.
While the assistant principle was the hero in this scenario, his concealed weapon did nothing to save the students from being murdered. The weapon only came into play after the immediate danger had passed. How many innocent students would the assistant principal have shot if he had tried to pull the gun during the fracas?
In a recent gun study at the University of Pennsylvania, results found that people who carry firearms are 4.5 times as likely to be shot and 4.2 as likely to get killed compared with unarmed citizens.
College campuses are one of the only places left that students feel safe. Students have the right not to sit in enclosed rooms with people packing heat. Keep guns off.
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